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Champions League possibilities and Cheltenham Festival free bets

Five for Messi, four for Gomez, three for Torres?

Another dramatic night in the Champions League saw Mario Gomez come within a goal of firing five in a home knockout game and presumably prompting the press to laud him as the best player in the history of football.

Elsewhere, Inter won but lost the pitiful drunken fistfight between surely the two most out-of-form sides ever to collide in a Champions League knockout match, finding a fittingly farcical way to seal their exit late on.

Ineptitude should make way for entertainment on Wednesday, with Chelsea and Napoli teams who have both scored in all seven of their European ties this season offered at 4/6 to prolong that pattern into their eighth encounter.

Argentina’s most likable forward Ezequiel Lavezzi is 27/10 on Betfair to prolong his five-match scoring streak at Stamford Bridge, while 2-2 at 16/1 (totesport, Betfred) is the preferred “mug bet” of the day.

If the presence of the unlikely trio of APOEL, Benfica and Marseille in the quarter-finals has punctured your enthusiasm for the Champions League then there’s always Cheltenham to get excited about.